alice amelia mallindine + james gypson kilgour
Alice was born to George Mallindine and Amelia Skinner at 53 Weymouth Terrace in Shoreditch on 6 November 1864. She was baptised at St Mary Haggerston on 25 December – 30 years to the day of her father’s baptism at St Leonard, Shoreditch. She grew up with three brothers at the family home on Alfred Place, which ran along the southern bank of the Regent’s Canal near the Haggerston Basin, and attended the local school on Maidstone Street.
Her family were still living on Alfred Place in 1881 but seventeen year old Alice was not living with the family and although she hasn’t been found elsewhere as yet, she was likely working as a maid or house servant nearby. On 10 April 1887, Alice married James Gypson Kilgour at St Leonard in Shoreditch and George Mallindine, her father or brother, signed the register as a witness along with Sarah Edmondson who would go on to marry Alice’s younger brother, Frederick.
When they married, Alice was living at 12 Culford Road in Dalston but no occupation was listed on the marriage register. James was living on Haberdasher Street and workings as a French Polisher while his father of the same name, worked in a similar trade as a Furniture Salesman. The Kilgour name may be of Scots origin as there is a village of the same name near Falkland in the county of Fife however, James was born on 25 November 1865 in Brooklyn, New York but his family returned to London shortly after his birth as he was baptised at St John the Baptist in Hoxton on 2 October 1867.
They were still on Culford Road when the first of their four sons, James Gypson, was born on 10 January 1890 and baptised at St John the Baptist in Hackney on 2 February. But the following year, they were recorded in the census living south of the Thames in 3 rooms at 129 Walworth Road in Newington where daughter Alice Mary was born in the early months of 1892 but sadly, she died later that year. When William Henry was born on 1 August 1893, they were living at 29 Selbourne Road in nearby Camberwell. William was baptised on 20 August at St Giles in Camberwell.
Within the next few years, they returned to Hackney and settled at 7 Rosemary Street where Frederick Thomas was born on 31 July 1895; he was baptised on 18 August at St John in Hoxton. Less than a year after Frederick’s birth their son William Henry died aged 2 ½ years. They returned to 12 Culford Road and had two more children: William Henry was born on 23 January and baptised on 13 February at St John in Hoxton, and Alice Mary Elizabeth was born on 21 October 1903 and baptised at St John on 8 November.
In 1901, Alice and James were still living on Culford Road and his parents, James and Mary, were also living with them and the family occupied 3 of the 4 rooms in the house. His father was working as a Cabinet Maker and the census notes that he was an ‘employer’ rather than a ‘worker’ so it is possible that James, a French Polisher, was working for his father.
They were still there ten years later although in the intervening years, James’ mother had died and his father had given up his cabinet making business and was working as a Traveller or salesman for an ‘ornamental manufacturer’. James was still working as a French Polisher, son James was an Upholsterer, Frederick was a Machine boy at a Sewing Machine Shop, while their two youngest children were still at school. The family of seven, along with lodger Sidney Bartholomew, occupied five rooms in the house.
Frederick enlisted in the army at Stratford on 21 February 1916 and was assigned to the 4th London Regiment before being transferred to the Royal Engineers and finally the Electrical X Mechanical Coorps. He listed his home address as 12 Culford Road and his occupation as a Cabinet Maker. After training in Southampton, he joined his unit in France in August and received both the British and Victory medals for his service.
They eventually left Culford Road and in 1920 James, Alice and their three sons appear in the Electoral Register at 4 Howard Road in Stoke Newington, to the north of Hoxton. On 23 July 1921, their middle son Frederick married Alice Risby at St Matthias in Stoke Newington with both fathers signing the register as witnesses. Alice was born on 16 February 1894 to William John Risby and Alice Honey and baptised on 13 May at St Anne in Shoreditch. Later that year, their eldest son James married Eva Margaret Farries in Edmonton and they had one daughter born in 1924.
They celebrated a third wedding on 4 February 1922 when William married Lilian Esther Ellis at St Matthias. William was living at the family home when he married and working as a French Polisher while Lilian, the daughter of Harry Ellis and Lydia Edwards, was living at 24 Truman’s Road But there was a loss the following year when James died on 25 July 1923 at the family home on Howard Road in Stoke Newington, aged 57 years; probate on his £500 estate was granted to Alice the following July.
Daughter Alice married Arthur John Cartwright in Stoke Newington in 1930 and they had one daughter three years later. Following Arthur’s death in Shoredtich in 1936, Alice married a second time to George Pollard in Shoreditch in 1937. That same year, they appear in the Electoral Register at 82 Hoxton Street in Shoreditch along with George’s younger brother, James Charles, and Alice Amelia. The electoral register must have been compiled before Alice and George married as she is listed under the name Cartwright.
Two years later, Alice was still living with her daughter and son-in-law but they had moved to Southall, west of London, and were living at the Featherstone Arms public house at 32 Featherstone Road. George was the licensee of the pub and his brother James was a barman but they disappear from the records after this point.
James and Eva were living at 92 Berkshire Gardens in Southgate, East Barnet in 1939 with their daughter and Eva’s sister, Winifred. James was working as a Master Upholsterer. Their daughter left home to marry in 1947 and had two daughters. James died at the Highlands Hospital on 23 January 1964 and probate on his £9000 estate was granted to his wife Eva. She died in Enfield in 1971.
In 1929, Fred and Alice were living at 94 Farleigh Road in West Hackney but by 1932, they had moved to 72 Holcombe Road in Tottenham. They were still there in 1939 and Fred was working as a Wood Worker in office furniture. Fred died in 1917 and Alice three years later.
William and Lilian were living at 20 Shaftesbury Avenue, Southall and he was a working as a Store Labourer but noted that he previously owned his own upholstery business. Lilian died in Ealing in 1988 and William in 1993
Only two grandchildren were born to Alice and James’ four surviving children and both were female which means the Kilgour name does not continue beyond their three sons.